Efficacy of auditory integration therapy (AIT) on plasma syntaxin1A (STX1A) levels and amelioration of behavioral, social, and sensory symptoms in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a pervasive neurodevelopmental disorder. Previous research reported the beneficial effects of Auditory Integration Training (AIT) on a considerable range of behavior and learning problems. Limited studies examined the association between AIT and biological biomarkers in autistic subjects. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effect of auditory integrative training on the plasma syntaxin1A protein (STX1A) level and also to assess its impact on behavioral, social, and sensory symptoms in autistic children, using a sandwich enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA). Total scores of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), and Short Sensory Profile (SSP) were calculated before one month and three months after AIT for all participants. Results show that the plasma level of STX1A was significantly increased immediately, one month, and three months after AIT (P<0.05). Moreover, Pearson correlation (r) values between STX1A levels before and after AIT shows strong and positive significant correlations between STX1A levels before AIT and immediately after AIT (r=0.594, p=0.01) and one month after AIT (r=0.819, p=0.01). Additionally, our results revealed that behavioral, social, and sensory symptoms were significantly improved in terms of disease severity three months after AIT (p<0.05). The study supports the usefulness of AIT as a therapeutic intervention to improve some measures of ASD such as symptoms. It may also induce the up-regulation of STX1A in plasma in ASD subjects. However, Additional research, on a larger size population, is necessary to evaluate the AIT effect on behavioral and social changes in ASD children, and the up-regulation of STX1A.